1 Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fly fishing lines, and in particular to a fly fishing line that exhibits a combination of improved properties, especially shootability, durability, and low recoil memory not found in previous fly lines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This description speaks to those familiar with the requirements of fly lines, both of the sinking and floating variety, and the features of fly lines that are known in the prior art, e.g., as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,043,045; 3,914,480; and 4,386,132. These patents describe the desirable characteristics of a fly line (see, in particular, column 1, lines 40-60 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,043,045). One of the most evasive combinations of properties is durability and low recoil memory, on the one hand, and shootability, on the other hand, because durability and low recoil memory are directly proportional to line flexibility and shootability inversely proportional to that attribute. Lack of durability is associated with brittleness or hardness (stiffness) of the line that results in cracking under the stresses encountered in casting a fly line. Shootability, on the other hand, is enhanced by a hard or stiff line. The line "shoots" through the fly rod guides with less loss of force (through friction) than a flexible, floppy line encounters, with consequent increase in casting distance. Recoil memory, i.e., the tendency of a fly line to remain in the coiled state it assumes on the fly reel, is directly proportional to the stiffness of the line, or at least that was conventional wisdom until the present invention. However, the present invention, owing to the inclusion of an ingredient not heretofor included in a fly line coating, negates the antagonism previously thought to exist between durability, low memory recoil, and shootability. This change from conventional wisdom is due to the inclusion in the coating, generally derived from a poly(vinyl chloride) resin plastisol, of a polymer derived from a plasticizing, polymerizable monomer, particular a polyfunctional acrylic monomer such as trimethylol propane trimethacrylate.
At this juncture in the description of this invention, there should be noted certain general disclosures relating to the use of the above-mentioned polymerizable, plasticizer monomers in poly(vinyl chloride) resin plastisols. See, for example, Encyclopedia of PVC, 2nd Ed., pp. 534-35 (1986); Acrylic Monomers in PVC Plastisols, 29 SPE J, pp. 56-62 (Feb. 1973), and Functional Acrylic Monomers As Modifiers For PVC Plastisol Formulations, Sartomer Company, Inc. (1989). These, and perhaps other publications, discuss certain benefits from inclusion of acrylic monomers in poly(vinyl chloride) plastisols.